Page 331 - Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies 2009

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Part V: What Kind of Class Will I Have?
✓ Contrasting through tenses
✓ Stating opinions
✓ Giving background information ✓ Concluding
Reading for exams
The biggest problem for students when it comes to reading tends to be speed. Very often they run out of time because they attempt to read each text carefully from start to finish. So you need to train your students in speed reading.
After getting an overview from the headings or opening sentences of each paragraph, the students need to know what they are looking for. They can get this information by reading the questions, so tell them to read the questions before reading the text. Teach students to skim through a text until they find an appropriate section and then read that part more carefully. They should practice timed readings in silence (you would be surprised how many people only study to music).
Get students in the habit of reading with a pen or pencil in their hand for two reasons:
✓ Dragging the pen across the page helps to keep up forward momentum and instead of constantly rereading sentences
✓ They can use the pen to underline key words.
Usually answers are in order in the text so it shouldn’t be necessary to keep
going back to the beginning.
When you tackle reading tasks in class, help students by highlighting new vocabulary but encourage them to guess the meaning instead of always resorting to the dictionary. You should also look at the structure of the text in terms of grammar, layout and expressions which link ideas together.
The questions for Reading exams usually involve:
✓ Choosing headings for paragraphs or parts of a text
✓ Classifying: This involves putting information into appropriate groups or under the right headings.
✓ Completing a table or flow-chart
✓ Completing notes: Students fill in the gaps on an incomplete set of notes based on a reading or listening text.